Thursday, March 26, 2009

I thought I'd do something special this post and showcase some of the many talents of my family. My upcoming trip to China has not only made me think of my own mortality, with my obsession with plane crashes and dying but also the mortality of the ones I hold dear. Sometimes I think we all take for granted the ones closest to us, this is just a way of paying tribute to and showing how much I appreciate them and what they have accomplished.

The image above is an Icon my wife is working on. It is called "The Holy Trinity" based on the Icon written by Andrei Rublev in the early 1400's. Right now it is in the "chaos stage" with some of the garments having the first highlight applied. When this icon is completed Cathy will have spent several hundred hours of work on it.

My oldest daughter Amanda, photographed what I like to call "Mediterranean Moon". This image was taken in Barcelona a few years ago. Amanda is a talented photographer who still loves using actual film, although she now owns and uses a Nikon D200, the above image was taken with a Nikon FA. The composition is great, I love how the Moonlight reflects off the Mediterranean Sea, plus it has palm tress in it, I love palm trees.

Last but not least is a work done by my youngest daughter Lindsay, the one that is getting married June 20th of this year. It is a Wolf done using the technique of Scratchboard. Using sharp tools you carve into a layer of white china coated with black India ink, very cool.

This coming Saturday March 28 at 8:30-9:30 pm local time is this year's "Earth Hour". On March 28 you can vote Earth by switching off your lights for one hour, or you can vote for global warming by not, your choice, let your voice be heard, vote Earth.

One billion votes is the goal this year, the vote will be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen December of this year. The meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, this agreement will replace the Kyoto Accord, the most significant international agreement to control green house emissions as the Kyoto Accord expires in 2012.

I will be voting Earth as well as the mall I work at. We are turning off, for that hour all non-essential lighting, actually our local Astronomy club, weather permitting will be setting up some scopes outside one of the mall entrances, kind of grouping Earth Hour and The International Year of Astronomy together for the hour, I will be taking pics and posting on a later post.

I'll leave you now with an animated "Mediterranean Moon". I like this animation so much I am going to place it on my sidebar, actually I will be posting another from one of my readers, so if you have anything you would like to animate and post on my sidebar, send it in to me. I will be rotating the spot for the readers regularly, so send one in.

Bob you are not going to die, I think God send you here for reason, you are doing so much good stuff.

About your wife Icon, even though it is in the chaos state in your opinion, it really looks good, and I think it looks better than the one done in our church.

Amanda is great photographer, she should have a blog too. I am speachless about the photo.

Oh and Lindsay, wow a true artist.

So Bob, is there something you want to paint for us too, lol. Looks like the girls got mom's talents, and yours too now that I think about all the moon photos.

Excellent post, and way to go with Earth Hour. I have no choice to sit in the dark as it is exactly Matthew's feeding time, lol, so both of us will be observing the holy earth hour. My husband, will be itching to watch the Hockey Night in Canada, lol.

Bob you are the best, and I am sure your China trip will be fun. Are you taking your wife with you?

Thanks and cool Moonshadow about the large telescope, have you ever gone to it? Maybe they do have something but haven't advertised, perfect opportunity for something like astronomy with less lights.\m/\m/

Thanks a lot Jackie, lol, it does seem kind of strange that I would like space but not flying, I think flying is cool, you are up high and going fast, it is the falling fast to the ground I hate,lol.\m/\m/

Hey Bob, You and your family have the gift for working with photography and imagery. I really enjoy your site and the information your send our way. I will vote for Earth - it will be a good time to get out the telescope and watch the heavens.

Lol Ruth, seriously I am going to try that, if it works I'll be sure to mention it on my first post over there. Yes you do have a very talented family as well Ruth, it's cool to see how each family member has their very own special talents isn't it?\m/\m/

Thanks so much Mike. Our local RASC club will be set up, along with me and my scope at one on my mall's front entrances for both Earth hour and a special IYA 2009 event, should be good, I will be taking lots of pics, weather permitting, so far forecast is looking good.\m/\m/

Great post. Love the Icon, the Mediterranean Moon and the scratch board. My daughter did one of those scratch board things several years ago. Her subject was a cat, and we still have it hanging on the wall.

The moon over the Med looks just like a scene I saw in Beirut, Lebanon. It must be the palms. It's a beautiful place. Too bad about all the trouble. I was also in Barcelona. Incredibly interesting places.

How talented your family is, Bob - and with very unique mediums too. Each one is so beautiful - and your pride and love for your family is obvious.

About those palm trees - they are one of my favorites too.

You have too many moon photos and animations awaiting you in the coming years, Bob - you will be safe on your plane trip. But sometimes I think that thinking about these things is good - your tribute to your family is beautiful!

Hey Bob - I wanted to drop another comment to let you know how much I appreciate your find site and the good content you offer. As of 4/1/09, I will be dropping the Entercard program as it is being banned by my hosting company. I am bookmarking your site so I can continue to visit and stay in touch with you.

I lovvvve the icon! What an excellent project! I own several icons from Greece and Russia purchase while on vacation etc and they are amazing pieces of art…I love the colours…I have to admit I do wonder at the misconceptions people get about the Triunity of God thru artistic representations…and also from metaphors…

Very cool palm trees! I really like this image…they almost look frosty!

Gorgeous wolf! Another very challenging form of art very well done!

You must be so very proud of all three of them! Just as I am sure they are of you who is also no slouch in the creativity department!

Interestingly I considered writing about Earth Hour at Creation on the Blade but let it pass…we did turn off all of our lights and just had a small CD player going…you can have a lot of fun in the dark…:)

I am not a fan of the Kyoto Accord as I believe it is a very bad deal however I am a very strong proponent for helping our environment and blog about it often at Creation on the Blade along with nature and animal stories…I would love to get your input on this recent post of mine:

Thanks Livingsword. My wife is the icon expert, we are evangelical Free Methodist but my wife appreciates the symbolism of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Lol about having fun in the dark, hey I had a great time at my mall, we had tons of people looking through scopes at Saturn and the Crescent Moon, my mall turned off the lights for the parking lot affording us great dark skies, we celebrated the International Year of Astronomy and Earth hour all in one night.

Yes the accord isn't the best, that's why they are looking at doing something different next time.

Lol,I will take a look at your tacky product placement and provide my input later,lol.

Wow, talk about a talented family. You and your family are really talented. I am so impressed. These works of art are amazing and so beautiful. I would be willing to bet that your children are really talented too. I love the art here is is really wonderful. Thank you for sharing this.

I joined in on the Earth Hour. Yeah!

You have to stop saying you are going to die, just stop it. You are going to be just fine and have a wonderful time.

So true: we often do take our dear ones for granted (but every once in a while we do have a reality check, don't we?).

Your wife restores art works? That is so amazing!! :)This icon is very pretty (well, most icons are).

Your daughter's photo is gorgeous indeed! Some photographers still prefer using film (sometimes I find it more romantic as well).

Lindsay is talented! Look at that amazing art-work!! It is beautiful!

You have a very artistic family, Bob :D! You must be proud!

About switching off the light, last Saturday...Portugal (as a whole) didn't because our national soccer team was playing at that time *nodding*! However my neighbourhood did...(except my father who went to his room and turned on the TV so that he could watch the match, in the dark for one hour *nodding*).

My wife doesn't restore, she starts from scratch, that is the amazing thing, there are so many coats of paint to put on yet and the Halos are actually gold leaf, the gold represents Sanctity, purity, the radiance of heaven , ect, many hours of work left before completion, I saw the finished product in a book and it looks very cool.

We had a great Earth Hour here, lots of lights were turned off city wide, but we didn't have any soccer games to contend with,lol.